5 Health Facts About Watermelon Rind You Probably Don’t Know About

Watermelon rind and nutrition

Watermelon rinds are always the first one to be discarded because who eats the skin anyway? It’s a common enough mistake since people don’t know any better. This has always been how your grandmother or mother showed you. Eat the meat or make a fruit smoothie then throw away the skin.

The most important takeaway you are going to get from this article is that the watermelon rind is just as nutritious (if not more!) as the flesh. Sure, it’s bitter but you can actually make a juice out of the skin to avoid the nasty aftertaste.

Watermelon Rind Recipes

Your mother’s recipes probably didn’t have these. Below are just some ways to mask the bitter taste of the watermelon rind.

1. Pickled Rind. What most people don’t know is that the watermelon and the cucumber are relatives. The rind and the cucumber almost have the same texture so making pickles out of the watermelon skin makes a lot of sense. In fact, when you travel to the Southern States, you will come across this common treat.
2. Rind Smoothie. If you have a watermelon smoothie, why can’t you have the same drink using the rind? It’s very easy to prepare: you just blend the rind with any of the ingredients—and here you may need your creativity—and voila!
3. Rind Juice. If you can make a smoothie out of the watermelon rind, you just need to change a few things to make juice. The overall nutritional value will depend on the other ingredients that you blend with the skin. There are so many recipes on the Internet, which means it doesn’t take much research before you find something you like.
4. Rind Salad. Remember that the watermelon belongs to the cucumber family so making a side salad out of the skin is but logical. Just sauté the rind with olive oil until it is soft, add vinegar for acidity and salt and pepper to taste.

What Do Watermelon Rind and Viagra Have in Common?

It May Help You Down Under – Watermelon rinds contain high levels of citrulline, an amino acid which boosts libido. You can also get arginine from the rind. This amino acid becomes gas nitric oxide when it enters the blood stream and helps relax the vessels. This means more oxygen-rich plasma will circulate through the arteries. Research into this subject is still in the infancy state, particularly how much watermelon rind you need to consume to help with erectile dysfunction, but this is very promising.